MSIS 501 Winter 2003 page 1 Dreamweaver MX Local Issues

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1 MSIS 501 Winter 2003 page 1 Using CuteFTP Pro While Dreamweaver MX has its own FTP capability, you ll want to configure CuteFTP so that you can use it also to upload files to your server account. In this document, an account named teambill will be used for all the examples. You will want to replace it with the name you have chosen for your team. Using CuteFTP, you ll want to create a new FTP Site (not an FTP with SSL site). The general site properties should look as shown below. Remember to replace teambill with your team s name. You will also need to supply some values on the Actions tab. On the dialog box on the next page, you can see that the remote folder setting is the same as your team name. The local folder setting is optional. No other settings need to be set or changed.

2 MSIS 501 Winter 2003 page 2 Within CuteFTP you have full control over your site. You can move files/folders to and from your local machine and the server, you can create folders on the server, and you can delete files/folders on the server. Please do not rely on the server for secure file storage (the server is a development server and can crash). Always keep local copies of all your server files. Creating a Dreamweaver MX Site Creating a new site with Dreamweaver MX is not difficult but you do have to be careful. We will begin by setting up a folder and database on the local (client) machine. We will then transfer this folder (and its database) to the server using CuteFTP. Next we will create and test the site and finally, we will make and test a connection to the database. Setting Up the Local Folder Start out by creating a folder on the local machine. I name the folder the same as my site name for easy identification. For this example, we will be creating a site named Demo so I have created a folder by the same name.

3 MSIS 501 Winter 2003 page 3 Inside this folder I have stored the database that will be used on the server. For this example the database is named BOM.mdb. Copying the Folder to the Server The next step involves moving a copy of the folder (Demo) to the server using CuteFTP. After setting up the FTP site, connect to the server (pane on the right) and navigate to where your local copy of the folder is located (pane on the left). Then drag the folder from the left (local) pane to the right (server) pane. This should start the FTP process. Now that the folder exists on both the local client machine as well as the remote server machine, we are ready to start Dreamweaver MX and set up the site.

4 MSIS 501 Winter 2003 page 4 Creating the Site Start Dreamweaver MX running and then select New Site from the Site menu. A dialog box like that shown below should appear. Notice that the Advanced tab has been selected as well as the Local Info category. Fill in the site name (Demo in this case) as well as the location of where the site is located on the local machine. After completing the local information, click on the Remote Info tab (see next page). Select FTP from the Access drop-down list and then fill in the details as shown in the dialog box.

5 MSIS 501 Winter 2003 page 5 Remember that you have to replace teambill with your team name. The name of the folder containing your database (Demo in this case) should be used in the Host Directory box. The Test button can be used to verify that you have things set correctly. Be aware that you may have to set Firewall settings if you are using your computer behind a corporate firewall. The two check boxes at the bottom can be set if you choose to use these features. The Check In and Check Out options may be useful if you are working on the files as part of a team. This will prevent two people from working on the same page at the same time and then discovering that your changes are not saved (more accurately, changed by a team member). Finally you need to click on the Testing Server tab (see next page).

6 MSIS 501 Winter 2003 page 6 For the server model select ASP VBScript and for the access type, select FTP. The remainder of the dialogue box will be filled out automatically for you. Everything is correct except for the URL Prefix. You will have to make a small modification to the URL Prefix created by Dreamweaver. As you see above, the URL is: You need to modify this by adding your team name right before your site name. For this example, with the team name teambill, the modified URL is:

7 MSIS 501 Winter 2003 page 7 Once you have competed these three categories, you click on OK and your site will be created. Making a Connection Once a site is defined, it is necessary to make a connection to the database located on the server. This connection will then be used by Dreamweaver MX and the code it generates to support the database-enabled web site. Be sure that you have a page open for editing you cannot create a connection unless a page is open. Start by clicking on the plus sign on the Databases tab within the Application pane and selecting Custom Connection String. In the Custom Connection String dialog, enter a Connection Name (your choice by convention starting with conn ). You then enter the connection string. The Connection String is complex and must be exact. You should enter the following: driver={microsoft Access Driver (*.mdb)};dbq=e:\courses\msis501\burrows\w03\teambill\demo\bom.mdb The last three parts (teambill\demo\bom.mdb) need to be modified. Substitute your team name for teambill, your site name for demo and your database name for BOM.mdb. The first part of the connection string (driver={ \w03\) never changes.

8 MSIS 501 Winter 2003 page 8 After entering the Connection String value, click on the Test button. If you are lucky, you will get the following dialog. If you are not lucky, you will get an error message. An error usually means a typo (a parenthesis ( where a curly brace { belongs for example). Check the string over carefully (have someone else look at it too). Note that the error might be related to a Site setting you created earlier. Once you have made a successful connection you are ready to start building your site. Importing and Exporting a Site If you want to either move a local site to another computer or share a site with teammates (and thus move it to their computer), there are two ways to do this. One way is to create a directory on the target computer that is named the same as the original site name. You can then create a site for that directory using the New Site dialog just as was done earlier in this document. After creating the site, you can connect to the server and download the files from the server. Dreamweaver MX also has a site import/export feature built in. You can use this feature by first selecting Edit Sites from the Site menu. On the edit sites dialog, you will see Export and Import buttons.

9 MSIS 501 Winter 2003 page 9 If you click the Export button, you ll see the Export Site dialog. Since everyone on your team is sharing the same account and password, you probably want to accept the first (default) choice. After clicking on the OK button, a File Save dialog will appear. The most likely place to store the Export file (with a.ste extension) is directly in the local site directory. If you do this, you can FTP the site definition file to the server along with all the other files for the site. Using this strategy, another teammate can FTP the server site files to their machine and also have the site definition file. Then, using the Import Site button, they can use the site definition file to set up the site on their machine.